UPCOMING EVENTS

Blockchain technologies are springing up everywhere at the moment, including at the center of the entertainment universe: Hollywood.

Today, producer Andrea Iervolino is launching a new blockchain-based platform that combines social media activity with entertainment viewing.

TaTaTu is a blockchain-powered platform that allows its users to receive rewards for watching movies, sports, gaming, and other forms of content and lets them get additional rewards from their friends’ viewing.

The platform has struck a deal with the AMBI Media Group, whose library will be among the first offered through TaTaTu. AMBI is well known for its portfolio of critical hits, commercial blockbusters, and cult favorites.

But AMBI’s library is just the start, with other partnerships to be announced soon.

“We are looking to announce a couple of very big partnerships with some of the world’s highest-quality content providers,” Iervolino told me. “Unfortunately … we can’t reveal who that is, as the deals have not been finalized yet.”

The platform will initially be released without social media capabilities, but the full version is scheduled to deliver those features by Q1 2019.

So where does blockchain come in?

TaTaTu combines the features you expect from any video-on-demand (VOD) platform and adds social networks with a system that rewards users for watching videos through the blockchain. In short, it incentivizes content consumption by offering digital tokens for views generated by users and their friends.

Blockchain lets TaTaTu record each transaction in an open distributed ledger, which ensures users and content providers get rewarded. A digital rights management (DRM) platform means that all talent, distributors, and studios have an accurate record of their work.

“We need the blockchain to create a unique token that is universal and can be used as a rewarding system for our community of users,” Iervolino said. “We want to create an ecosystem based on trust and fairness embodied by the principle of the blockchain community.”

That’s not the only reason blockchain is being utilized here.

“The DRM is built on the blockchain to ensure film rights do not get lost,” Iervolino said. “There are many examples of studios being bought, going bust, and rights getting lost.”

And TaTaTu is taking a big swing at this platform. It has built a team of over 250 developers, as well as adding a dedicated blockchain team.

TaTaTu plans to offer movies and videos, but it will also expand to providing music, sports, and games on demand.

So how long will it take to rival the libraries other VOD solutions currently offer?

“We are looking to acquire even more content and develop real-time ecommerce solutions,” Iervolino said. “It is important to understand that we don’t [compete] with platforms like Netflix and Amazon, as they are subscription-based, nor with platforms like Hulu, which focus solely on advertising. Our business model is unique, as we reward users — focusing on the relationship between the advertiser and the content viewer. It is something completely new in the market and that we believe is the future.‌”